February 8, 2011

How to Get A Phantom Wedding Like David Tutera's My Fair Wedding: Lighting

Every venue can be dressed up with a little mood lighting. Don't hire expensive lighting companies, do it for approx $24 a spotlight! Here is the original DIY post from Weddingbee, and here's what you need:

-light clamps, $9 each at the Home Depot-100 watt red flood lights, average cost $6 each, depending on store (check your light clamps to see how much wattage they can take)-sheet of pine plywood, around $7 for a 2ftx2ft pine plank at the Home Depot-1/4" bolts and nuts-large washers with 1/4" opening-spray paint (for the plywood and/or the light clamps)

To create the base for the lights, refer to the DIY lighting tutorial here from Project Wedding. With this tutorial there's a handy hole in the light handle for the bolt to go through, however since we have cheaper light setups, we have to do this a bit differently.

-First you should connect a piece of plywood sticking straight up in the middle of the 1'x1' board, (with nails or screws or whatever).
-Then place the light clamp securly on the board.
-Then use 2 bolts with associated washers and nuts like the Project Wedding tutorial, except now secure each corner of the clamp so the clamp cannot come off easily.

My rendition of the light stand alteration

Another alteration on this would be to add walls on each side of the light to hide the ugly looking wires and clamp, however make sure the wood is not too close to the metal lamp, which could cause a fire hazard.

If you can't stand how unsightly the light clamps look, and/or would like a more professional setup, then you could follow the Project Wedding tutorial by the letter, and you will need the following:

-PAR 56 lighting can, $24 at BulbAmerica-500W Par Can bulb, $15 at BulbAmerica-colored gel sheet, $1.25 at BulbAmerica-sheet of pine plywood, around $7 for a 2ftx2ft pine plank at the Home Depot-1/4" bolts and nuts-large washers with 1/4" opening-spray paint (for the plywood and/or the light clamps)

Adding up to a total of $43 per light.

Since the professional lights are more powerful, you would probably need less of them than you would for the light clamps.

Even though these lighting projects could easy cost around $130 - $150, for the atmosphere it is a lot less than what a professional lighting company would charge. Just please, make sure your venue can handle your power needs! Having great lighting will do you no good when the entire building loses power! XP